Dmitry Zhmurkin, director of Bureau of Workforce Partnerships and Operations with the state Department of Labor and Industry, gives a congratulatory speech during the celebratory opening of the new combined PA CareerLink Chester County and Financial Stability Center in Exton on Thursday.
Staff photos by Vinny Tennis

WEST WHITELAND — Perhaps never have so many people been so delighted to be gathered at an unemployment office — except it wasn’t an unemployment office per se, and nearly everyone at this gathering Thursday afternoon already had jobs.

The occasion was the ceremonial opening of the Pennsylvania CareerLink Chester County and United Way of Chester County Financial Stability Center, a long name that reflects a great variety of services for job hunters and others now offered in one facility — and the various public and private agencies behind them.

The feeling of accomplishment expressed by many of the more than 100 people attending the ceremony was summed up nicely by speaker Dmitry Zhmurkin of the state Department of Labor and Industry. He compared this unique effort to meld resources to a large family making vacation plans and trying to please everyone — only this effort was a hundred times more complicated and had a lot more people and money involved, he said.

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He also stressed that the new facility is not the latest incarnation of an unemployment office. “It’s an office of new opportunities,” Zhmurkin said.

The center opened May 19 at 479 Thomas Jones Way, Suite 500, in Exton’s Oaklands Corporate Center. Chester County’s youth employment center, the HOOD, is planned to open Aug. 1 at an adjacent office suite. Walter Urban Jr. is the center’s administrator.

“We have been quite pleased at the rollout,” said Patrick Bokovitz, director of the county Department of Community Development. “The lights are on and the computers are working.”

The concept was to create a single location for county residents to find job training, financial stability counseling and recruitment resources for employment. The county relocated existing services from the PA CareerLink office in Coatesville and combined them with the United Way of Chester County’s Financial Stability Center under one roof for convenience and efficiency. The center also incorporates the Employment, Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) — a state program helping welfare recipients link with job training programs.

Claudia Hellebush, president and CEO of the county’s United Way chapter, explained their goal is to help county residents decrease debt, increase income and build assets. The core providers are Family Service of Chester County and Open Hearth, with a long list of ancillary services, such as tax preparation and adult literacy training.

And the center is not just a resource for the destitute or for people seeking GED classes. The directors said services provided at the new center will benefit workers with higher skill levels as well as they seek to re-enter the ranks of the employed and connect with employers seeking workers with specific talents.

Though the opening also marks the closing of these service centers in Coatesville, county commissioners noted transportation issues and auxiliary outreach efforts are in place. For example, the new center is within 75 yards of a stop on the Route A bus from Coatesville to West Chester. And PA CareerLink will maintain a presence in the city with staff at the Coatesville Library on Thursday mornings. Commissioner Terence Farrell noted the county will also maintain its presence in Coatesville’s annual career seminar at the city’s Lincoln University satellite campus.

The new center will have 18 to 20 people on staff and about a half-dozen other people working there as the needs arise. It will serve about 70 to 100 clients a day, on average.

The county and the Coatesville Senior Center are negotiating to reuse the former PA CareerLink building at 250 Harmony St. with a July 2015 opening planned.